Sainsbury’s says it is seeing "exciting growth opportunities" for its general merchandise offering, which includes toys.

Chairman David Tyler said: "The wider economic situation looks likely to remain challenging, but we have consistently demonstrated we can succeed against this backdrop. Furthermore, we see exciting growth opportunities as we bring our great food, clothing and general merchandise to more customers across multiple channels, via our focused space, new technology and new business programmes."

This was announced as part of Sainsbury’s 2012/13 annual report, which revealed the grocer’s like-for-like sales rose 1.8 per cent. Underlying profit before tax rose 6.2 per cent to £756 million.